The Girl Scouts’ News Literacy Project runs through Journey World, a state-of-the-art, hands-on, immersive learning center that offers programming in Financial Literacy, Entrepreneurship and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math).

Journey World partners with several public schools in Chicago to engage at least 500 students and as many as 21 classroom teachers in the project.  This new initiative comprises three workshops, offered during the school year. After completing a media literacy workshop, students return to Journey World to participate in a day-long culminating experience to try out their new skills gained during the initial media workshop.

The workshops are divided into Traditional Media (first year) and New Media (second year). During the Traditional Media workshops, students explore content consumption. They learn to “decode” a specific media format, or to assess the tools and techniques used to tell stories and define what make a story newsworthy. The New Media workshops focus on responsible content creation. Students learn about the responsibilities that come with publishing your own content. They will engage with such topics as Fair Use, effective research practices, and how to engage an audience. By the end of each workshop, both new and traditional, students will have produced their own media content. Short descriptions of the workshops are as follows:

• Extra! Extra!  Students dive into the Newspaper publishing process, thinking critically about the difference between fact-based reporting and opinion. After critiquing a professional publication, students respond in the form of their very own article.

• Kids News.  Together, students look at either a local or national television news broadcast. Once they define the techniques used to report stories in each format, they get to create their own broadcast using the knowledge gained.

• Broadcasting Live from Journey World! After engaging with a professionally produced public radio broadcast, students discuss whether the story was truly newsworthy and why or why not. After this discussion, students work in groups to record their own radio broadcast.

New Media Workshops

• Blog Your Story. Students learn the dos and don’ts of blogging. Can I reference other’s work? How and why? When can I use slang? When should I stick with a more formal writing style? Once students have a grasp of the blogging basics, they write and publish their own blog posts.

• Vlogging Ventures. What makes a vlog successful? What editing choices do different vloggers make and why? After analyzing the tenets of an effective vlog, students will work together to record, edit and publish their own video.

• Streaming Live from Journey World!  Together, we explore the ins and outs of podcasting. What is a podcast? How are stories told in this format? What are the best ways to engage an audience? Students work in groups to answer these questions and produce their own podcast.

About the Girl Scouts

Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago & Northwest Indiana is the largest of over 100 Girl Scout councils in the country. In its current membership year, the organization expects to impact over 84,000 girls and 24,000 adults. The mission of Girls Scouts is to build girls of courage, confidence and character who make the world a better place.

Impact

• 6 educators are involved in the project.

• The organization received a $100,000 two-year grant through 2014 from the McCormick Foundation.

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